Abstract
Like the first, the second edition of this book is timely, and a real treasure trove for anyone with an interest in ethics. The approach to ethics is different from the traditional divide into theory and practice. The reader is presented with three parts, starting with setting out the moral terrain, leading to current applications of health-care ethics/nursing ethics, and finally broadening the view of health-care ethics/nursing ethics into some of the more innovative and challenging aspects of health care. These parts are still largely the same as in the first edition, but in this edition, they are more inclusive and wider in scope and aspect. All chapters have significant changes made, and some are radically different, new, or expanded to address more areas.
In reading the text, I felt I was presented with a very precious gift that I could use as I wanted or needed. Nothing in the book is prescriptive or laid down as hard fact; everything is presented in a respectful way that urges the reader to engage with the text and find oneself a morally and ethically more competent person for having done so. There is substantive background on every subject treated, yet with plenty of careful critique of every topic. Chapters have “Ethics in practice” boxes that give examples and “Exhibit” boxes that contain supplementary material or evidence, as well as points for reflection that take the thinking further on the particular topic. Endnotes and plenty of up-to-date references in each chapter make the book an ideal resource for students at any level.
In her foreword, Carol Taylor writes that many people reading this book “will find themselves thinking as they read, ‘I never thought about that,’ or ‘I never read that author,’ or simply ‘What a great insight.’” It could not have been said better; this was exactly my own experience as I leafed through the book on first receiving it.
The book is written specifically for the Canadian market, but its relevance is much wider. Some of the topics discussed in the third part are only emerging on the health-care scene, such as genetics and identity, and neuroethics. Issues of ethics and public health and social justice/injustice are addressed. The fact that nurses have to grapple increasingly with the social and political aspects of their profession becomes clearer in this part, although the earlier parts are framed and guide the reader throughout to these less familiar issues in nursing. This book truly stretches the reader’s ethical knowledge and competence and pushes the boundaries at every level, not least in the fact that health-care ethics and nursing ethics are constantly paralleled, seeing them as overlapping. The editors are to be congratulated on such a comprehensive, innovative, and balanced text, which is relevant for neophytes and experts alike.